So there is a new commercial out for Verizon that makes really dumb analogies about how certain things go together. They do, however, have a point. Minds Matter Denver has a simple mission–to prove that Genius has no zip code and that people from even the humblest origins can skyrocket to the top of society.
MMD & Social Mobility is a match.
The question might be asked however about what the top of society looks like to a typical Minds Matter student. This article in The Altantic sponsored by the Gates Foundation is pretty much a poster article for what Minds Matter does or that “given the right opportunity and, perhaps, the right education, people can rise out of poverty within a single generation. The eternal American dream.”
This article goes on to state that the prospects for “high needs|high achieving” kids to get into elite schools has always been minuscule. And yet, the right kind of student with the right kind of program can still make the grade.
Better yet, when these kids do attend elite universities they actually help to redefine what social mobility and the American Dream is all about. Our kids use their elite education to give back as teachers, social entrepreneurs and other vocations that are not measured purely in material terms. They might be just as happy with a hut in Colombia as a house in Cherry Creek provided they can make a difference.
And while cold brew and baristas go together, the typical MMD student is thinking more about how to make 4.0s and Five Points less of a social oxymoron. Yeah, that’s deep thought, but our Geniuses can handle it.
The macchiato can wait.